Precooler for refrigerator cars



Nov. 24, 1936.

'J. D. HUSTON PRECOOLER FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Aug. '6, 1926 ,82 INVENTOR.

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' ATTORNEYfi'.

Patented Nov. 24, 1936 2,051,800 PRECOOLER FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS James D. Huston, Imperial, Calif., assignor of one-half to A. B. Humphrey C0,, Escalon, Cali.f., a corporation of California A Application August 6, 1926, Serial'No. 127,542

Claims.

The primary object of this invention is to provide simple and efiective means for quickly reducing the temperature of perishable lading after loading in a refrigerator car previous to starting 5 the car on its journey. Initial cooling of the lading is usually accomplished by the use of ice in the ice bunkers; This initial cooling however is so slow, due to the inherent heat contained in the lading and the relatively slow circulation of cold air from the ice bunkers that it is not practicable to quickly cool the lading in the car in general practice. The temperature reduction of the lading under normal conditions also is not suflicient nor is the top portion or upper layers of lading reduced sufiiciently for delivering all of the lading in the car at destination in highly preserved condition. The improvement described herein provides efiective means not hitherto available to accomplish the cooling to any degree desired of the upper part of the load as well as the lower portion thereof.

My improvement provides portable means wh.ich maybe quickly installed in and removed from the car after loading and connected with the bunkers in such manner as to efiectively augment the cooling effect of the ice in the bunkers upon the lading before starting the car on its Gil journey and-particularly throughout the entire I load including the upper portions or layers of lading which low temperature is effectively maintained by the ice in the bunkers during subsequent normal cooling.

My improvement further provides the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal section of a refrigerator car showing my invention installed therein; and Fig. 2 is a section of a detail taken on the line 2-'-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the truck and blower removed from the car and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of a car showing an alternative construction of my invention.

In the drawing, A indicates the body of a refrigerator car having the usual end ice bunkers B and C and medial doorway D. Each ice bunker is of usual construction and has the ice basket. structure E, bunker wall F, ice grate G, cold air egress passage H and return air ingress passage I, extending across the upper 'portion of the bunker wall. The car is adapted to receive and hold the lading J, said lading consisting of crates or packages to be transported in cool condition. These packages are stacked on the floor racks K on the floor part way up towards the ceiling in the usual manner, leaving a space in the center of the car above the lading so that normally air may circulate freely down through and around the ice L, in the ice bunkers; out through the cold air egress passages H, upwardly through and around the lading and to the median portion between the ends of the car and the air of warmest temperature passing back from the upper portion of the body into the bunkers through passages I. This action transpires normally while the car is in transit and while the bunkers contain ice and is capable only of reducing the temperature of the lading slowly. This slow cooling action renders the apparatus relatively uneconomical and ineflicient, the inherent temperature of fruit or other perishable lading being sufiicient to retard the ordinary coolingand eventually inhibiting effective transportation over long distances.

Under ordinary cooling intransit the temperature of the top layer or layers of the produce is not reduced to the same degree as the lower portion of the lading and this uneven refrigeration commonly results in spoilage, decay or over-ripening of the produce forming that portion of the lading. This invention is particularly'designed to overcome this weakness and to provide means whereby said upper portion of the lading may be quickly cooled. This is accomplished while the car is held at loading place. completion of pre-cooling and the removal of the apparatus from the car the normal action of refrigeration from the ice bunkers causes the circulation of cold air to pass immediately to the lower portion of .the load from the cold air egress openings in the ice bunkers and from beneath the floor racks. This restored normal air circulation reduces the temperature of the lower portion of the lading in so far as the temperature may be at a higher degree than the overlying layers of the load whileat the same time suflicient cold air is pushed upward through the spaces between the lading to prevent an appreciable warming up of the upper portion .of the lading. It is to be noted, however, that best practice and most recent application of refrigeration appliances in the cold storage of food products has resort to overhead cooling systems in order to produce uniform temperatures of the stored products as between upper and lower layers. The present improvement has to do with overhead cooling applied in the car after loading and adapted to precool the upper layers of lading and the entire load in an eflicient manner. My improvement provides a portable rotary blower ill of large Then, upon the 0 tween the stacks of containers J constituting the lading to be shipped. The blower has 'a bifurcated air ingress duct l3 which is adapted to be detachably connected with the upper air ducts I, in the ice bunkers by piping l4 and spreaders IS, the latter constituting a connection over the entire opening I in the bunker and being detachably secured to the car structure by fasteners Hi. The outlet ll of the blower is also bifurcated and detachably connected to pipes l8 and I9, which are extended over and supported upon the lading byrests 20. These pipes have outlets 2| which are proportioned and placed so that air delivered by the blower is distributed evenly over and down through and around the lading, thus cooling and reducing the top layers first and to the lowest temperatures. The air ultimately passes back to the ice bunkers through the bunker opening H and is forced upwardly through and around the ice by which the heat is removed. During pro-cooling salt may be used to advantage upon the ice in the bunkers to increasethe cooling effeet upon air which is drawn into the blower and ejected downwardly upon the lading in the car.

In use the apparatus can be quickly moved into and set up in the car. The doors of the car and hatches entering the ice bunkers are closed tightly and the motor 25 driving the blower fan connected with an outside source of current. After precooling, the blower is removed from the car. The lading is then braced in the usual manner so as not to fall into the space left by the blower during transit.

When desired the blowerand its motor together with the truck may be stationed outside one of the doorways of the car as shown on Fig. 4, instead of in the car as above described. 'Ihis'is advantageous when the space between the stacks of lading in the car will not permit of theinstallation of the blower and its parts; When thus used aportable vestibule 22, adapted to receive and hold said parts is placed in and detachably joined to the frame of the doorway. The various ducts corresponding with those shown in Fig. 1 are then connected by extensions 23 and 24 to the blower, suitable bends being provided. The vestibule, being tightly fitted in the doorway and completely enveloping the blower, forms an anteroom off from the car which prevents outside air entering the car during the pre-cooling operation. Preferaby the vestibule walls are constructed of poor heat conducting material.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my invention, together with the construction which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth, within the scope of the following claims.

capacity mounted upon a truck H which is adapted to be wheeled into and out of the car be- Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

'1. A device for precooling produce in a refrigerator car having an ice bunker at one end opening into the car both at top and bottom, comprising, a portable truck to rest" on the floor of the car, a blower mounted on the truck, a motor connected to the blower and also mounted on the truck, an inlet conduit projecting upwardly from theQlower to-a position'adapted to direct a current of air from the top of said ice chamber into the blower, and an outlet conduit extending from the blower to a position over the produce in said car. 2. A device for precooling produce in a refrigerator car having ice chambers at both ends opening into the car both at top and bottom, comprising, a blower adapted to be set on the floor of the car centrally of its length, opposed longitudinally extending outlet conduits from the blower over the produce in the car and opposed ing a provision chamber in which the products are adapted to be so stacked as to produce a central chamber and ice bunkers in the opposite ends of said provision chamber adapted to assist in producing natural circulation of cold air downwardly through the bunkers and upwardly through the products stacked in said provision chamber, a blower adapted to be placed in said central chamber having inlet ducts adapted to be temporarily connected with the upper portions of said ice bunkers and outlet ducts extending over the products and having orifices adapted to spread cold air drawn from the upper portions of said bunkers over, down, through and around'the products.

.5. In combination with a refrigerator car having a provision chamber in which products are adapted to be so stacked that a chamber is provided above the stacks and ice bunkers in the opposite ends of the car in which air is adapted to gravitate under natural circulation, means having an inlet temporarily connected with the upper portions of said bunkers and distributing outlets immediately above the stacked products for creating a forced circulation of cold air drawn upwardly through the ice in the bunkers, over, down; through and around said stacked products.

JAMES D. HUSTON. 

